PALENQUE RECORDS is a label specialized in Afro-Colombian music, founded in 1998 in Paris France, by Lucas Silva Dj Champeta-Man. Since then, we have released many records and we have changed the face of afro-colombian music, with a fusion of modern and traditional sounds. Our releases go from the very traditional genres of music, until the most modern and afro -electro beats, covering all ranges of black colombian music.

In 1996, Lucas Silva realeased the movie "THE CREOLES KINGS Of THE CHAMPETA" (30') in the town of Cartagena, in the Colombian Caribbean coast. This film was about the new tendencies of afro-Colombian music, with special focus on Champeta Criolla Style.Filming this documentary, hi could discover the richness of an afro-Colombian marginalized music, completely unknown from Colombia and the Andes and from the rest of the world.

Hi decided thus to create the Palenque Records label (called like this in homage to the village of San Basilio de Palenque), with the objective of making known the size of popular afro-Colombian music, which struggles in the poverty of everyday, and in the indifference of the media, too busy with other products "more commercial". Our first musical production was the Cd "CHAMPETA CRIOLLA, NEW AFRICAN MUSIC FROM COLOMBIA" (Palenque Records - Night & Day), published in October 98. It was the first time that this music was released abroad, and this compilation revealed to the world this unexpected musical movement.

In 1999 we published two new albums : "Champeta Criolla Vol 2 : Visionary Black Music from Underground Colombiafrica (Palenque Records - Night & Day), then "Sexteto Tabalá: Kings of Son Palenquero" (Buda records - Universal). Each album is the result of a long work of musical production and investigation, and is accompanied by a booklet written by myself, in which I give an account of all the investigations and the field work that I carried out, the whole presented in a modern, narrative and personal way.

The disc "Batata & his Rumba Palenquera - Radio Bakongo", was launched by the German label Network in April 2003. It was very well accepted by critics in Europe and in the United States. It was classified among the 50 best discs of World Music of all times by the English Review Song Lines, and one of the best discs of the year by the American review Latin Beat.

Unfortunately, in January 2004, Paulino Salgado died in Bogota, at 78 years old. "Radio Bakongo" is his only disc in solo, and it will remain for the generations to come like the musical testament from an exceptional artist.

In 2007, we released a new album, COLOMBIAFRICA THE MYSTIC ORCHESTRA, together with WORLD MUSIC NETWORK label(UK). Until today I thus realeased 11 discs of afro-Colombian music. Many magazines and other media of Europe, United States and Colombia, made heard about this musical work, with very positive critics.

The afro-Colombian culture is a cultural exception. Musicians and popular artists of my country are genius creators, but a few believe in them. For this reason it is advisable to impel a musical movement around their talent, to support and create an artistic movement of independent compositors who can build this future.